Ideas for Standing Out from the Crowd

On most of the listserves that I’m on, new lawyers ask questions about how a particular marketing technique has worked for another attorney. And while it’s great to learn from what others have done and take approaches that have been successful, sometimes, you need to go out on a limb and do something completely revolutionary. That’s what some of the lawyers in this article by Ari Kaplan, How to Stand Out from the Crowd (Small Firm Business 9/21/06) have done or tried to do.

You’ll probably recognize some of the ideas in Kaplan’s article, such as creating a website or blog to market a niche practice. Other strategies, however, have been used less, such as Kathleen Hopkins’ idea of branding her firm the Real Property Law Group rather than using individual names, advertising yourself as “your lawyer friend indeed,” as does Steven Goldstein, a New York criminal defense attorney or arranging panel discussions on hot topics that may draw hundreds of participants, as does Stacey Gray, a business attorney in New York and occassional court TV commentator.

So don’t feel that you always have to reinvent the wheel, but at the same time, think about trying what’s never been done before. You have nothing to lose, except your anonymity.